As one of the very few people that have actually played competitively at a decent level, I need to give some of you a freakin' wake up call.

You need to be good(Meaning you always do well in pubs, or preferably not play pubs at all and focus on pugs and scrims). You need to have good computers. You need to have good peripherals. And you need to have a good internet connection. There is no "I'd rather use speakers". There is no "This HP generic mouse is fine". That is like playing soccer/football in sandals.

Do most of you don't know what Acceleration or Prediction are and how it affects your playing? Learn it, and learn how to customize it. 90% of competitive players have tweaked these and other small settings, or looked for peripherals that give them the best feel (This is an actual AND psychosomatic advantage)

There is only 1 way to compete in North America and that is ESEA. Only 4 of us have ESEA and everyone else is refusing to get it. So our competitive team consists of Myself, Exodus, Mutiny, Stagga(Who hasn't been around much). There are only 5 spots on a CS team, so you will have to show that you are better and more prepared than the rest of the clan and show that you want to be there. You cannot casually compete... in anything ever. With the amount of time I play CS I know for a fact that I would get absolutely demolished against an ESEA team.

If we were to make a competitive team that can even win 50% of games in Open, we need to practice 4-5 days a week, 4-5 hours per day. When we aren't practicing we are watching demos of our opponents and demos of top teams. We need to have set strats, that we need to perfect. We also need 3-4 fall back strats per start (that's right) to switch to depending on the situation that arises. We need a dedicated Strat Caller(IGL), that does not focus on getting kills, but focuses on who dies, who we kill and every other action and event that happens in the round. We need a dedicated Awper, who is willing to make that his job. As well as an entry fragger and 2 support players. We would need to build team chemistry which only comes with CONSTANT scrims and CONSTANT practicing.

We will lose, everyone loses. However we won't win without complete dedication. That means putting down L4D, RoI and TF2 and start playing CS CONSTANTLY.

This is exactly why I don't complain that AM isn't competitive enough. If people want to scrim, that's fine. But if people want to compete, they will have to dedicate time instead of playing when they feel like it.

_________________Honey Badgers have very tough skin. The skin is very thick and rubbery, which is almost impervious to arrow and spears. Even a blow from machete can't scratch the skin. The skin protects them from bites.

This is exactly why I don't complain that AM isn't competitive enough. If people want to scrim, that's fine. But if people want to compete, they will have to dedicate time instead of playing when they feel like it.

Which is basically impossible.

This clan is made up almost entirely of people who have already graduated from college. They have full time jobs and can't dedicate the time to scrim ten times a night every night. They have full financial responsibility of themselves and sometimes others, and sometimes have to settle for cheaper gaming equipment because of that. They are self-reliant, and can't quit their day jobs to dedicate more time to gaming. Many are lower middle class or upper lower class and literally don't have a spare $7 to spend on ESEA every month. One symptom of being older is that some people simply have a strong enough sense of moral rectitude and justice that they won't cave in and give money to ESEA just because that's the expectation in the gaming community.

Competition is fun. Scrimming is fun. Joining leagues is fun. It is, IMO, the most enjoyable and best way to play, and that's why we structure our clan around it. But if you joined this clan because you thought we would become a semi-professional or professional team, and that we would be able to dedicate hours to hard-core competitive gaming every day, and that you would be able to quit your day job because we are so successful, then you have misunderstood.

Our clan is a compromise between competition and the constraints of real life. It will never become a nationally-renowned team (unless we get a hundred clan members, because then the chances of having people who actually could devote that time to the game would be higher), but it will also never become a "fun" clan with ten thousand meaningless, modded, unrecognizable game servers.

EDIT: Also, nice rant. I'm sure it will spark some good discussion or at the very least some good thought.

I just want to clarify that I wasn't complaining, Anubis. I may have misinterpreted what you said, but competition isn't the reason why I joined AM, and it would never be the reason if I left AM.

_________________Honey Badgers have very tough skin. The skin is very thick and rubbery, which is almost impervious to arrow and spears. Even a blow from machete can't scratch the skin. The skin protects them from bites.

I agree with most of what you said jero. I don't agree one person should be dedicated to strat calling and paying attention to who dies and what not. I think that is a really backwards and old school way of thinking and I personally think it hinders the entire team by doing so. I also don't agree you should have someone dedicated to awping and that is what they do. again I find this to be backwards and oldschool. I don't agree with what a lot of the professional teams do. I think they are close minded and hindered by this because the community thinks if they do it, it must be the only correct way of doing things. While I disagree with these things, I really don't have a good alternate solution either, I haven't thought about it too much, so I don't really have anything to offer lol, I wish I did.

Constant practice and working on strats is a must. knowing the game better is a must. if you don't know basic commands to improve your game then yes competing will be difficult for you. I can assure everyone that if ESEA is the only way to compete in CS GO in america I will just give up competing altogether.

Yeah I don't think anyone really ever thought we would be some kind of top team or win money, though we all like to dream (I sure as hell know I do) but as anubis said competition style of play is really the most enjoyable form for me. Even when I lose I love to learn something I didn't know or a new strategy or something.

So yes, those of you wanting to compete, even at a small level will need dedication. That does mean less time in other games, less time fooling around and stuff like that. You don't have to give everything up, but you have to put forth the effort to get something back. Also, when CS GO comes out, please don't look to me and Anubis to do everything, set everything up, and keep everyone in line. We are almost all adults, we should all be able to keep up with schedule. I for one look forward to competing in GO, but yeah we will need dedication.

GOOD THREAD BY THE WAY!!!

_________________I'm so official, like a dealer with a pistol or referee with a whistle.

It's not old school, It worked back then and it still works now. It is a tried and true effective setup. There are very few teams that change this up at all and they usually fall flat (Winfakt). Would you put your placekicker in as quaterback? No you put the best quaterback you have in as quaterback. The reason why you need a dedicated In-Game Leader is to minimize people over-calling each other. During the match you want as much silence as possible. You listen to what the IGL calls, if he wants input he will ask. Everyone else needs to be focusing on sounds, spots and hitting their shots. Their minds need to be as clear as possible.

yeah, I should have been more clear. I agree there needs to be ONE person calling strats. I also, agree that person should be the one doing as much of the talking as possible (obviously this person can't call what others see on their screens while they are alive) I misread what you posted as saying that person is the only one that should call anything out. I see you just meant for the most part. Over talking to me is one of the worst things to happen in a match.

Hey, I am not one of those teams at the top so its just my opinion. What do I know? I have only competed in OGL and some of CEVO. I can see the advantages of putting people in their strengths and trying to stay there. Though I do agree that you need several alternate strats for each strat. Basically mini strats that are decided upon based on what happens in the first minute or so of the round.

_________________I'm so official, like a dealer with a pistol or referee with a whistle.

That may be what the pros do, but it just seems rigid and weak. To me it seems that if you could get a team to move away from that, to be more fluid and improvisational, it would do a lot of damage to these teams that are used to seeing everything the same way every single match, like how guerrilla warriors can almost always overtake more well-established militaries simply because they are not so rigid and predictable. It just seems super easy to pull an Ender's game on them if you were able to practice enough.

My take on this is one of dual viewpoints... I like most have full-time jobs and unlike most I seem to have the worst luck as of the last few years and have seen that the competition aspect of gaming created a major void in my life in the past... I agree with Jero, but I agree with Anubis and Serial as well... And a lot of the new clan members don't really know the past circumstances that lead me to present day except a few like Anubis and Serial, Northern and Asian... but that's okay I don't expect you too... Point being and my viewpoint ultimately is that Yes AM can be one of the greats while being one of the most relaxed. Some of us such as myself play to relax, unwind, get together with friends and enjoy the game with fellow like-minded people. Others such as Jero and Exodus and Mutiny... are excellent gamers and good at what they do (not to bash on anybody else), But the problem I see is that we all need to respect both aspects of this community and the community members for their views, and lives. What they can accomplish is what they have time or resources for, that's fine. I personal encourage the elites for their skill and admire them for the influence to wanna get better, however, in some peoples lives the other things in life are currently more important and although its not bothering me it could be offensive to others that may just want to enjoy the game for what it is,

Just a couple of points to clear up. It seems people are misunderstanding this post. This is not me telling you what to do or saying what people have to do. I only wanted to educate some on what it will take to complete successfully. I just hear and see a lot of "Wanting to compete, but not willing to prepare". If I wanted to compete at a high level I would be doing just that already. I am certainly not willing to spend hours on 1.6 practice everyday. I enjoy the laid back, chill, play whatever whenever attitude everyone has here. I also have a job and a fiance, and responsibilities that take time away from gaming, even if it seems I am on far too often. Jester mentioned that some things are more important than gaming... YES most things are way more important. It is just those who want to compete will have to dedicate some time, or step aside to let others compete.

The computer & internet connection thing is a little exaggerated. Replace Good with Stable. The peripheral thing is still important, especially the Headset vs Speakers thing. Using speakers is an obvious disadvantage and frankly kind of rude when there is feedback through the mic.

I can't speak for everybody, but I certainly understood what you meant, and simply disagreed with your dichotomy (hard-core competition or laid back pubbing, with nothing in between). That would be like saying you are either a fat slob or an NBA player, and there is no sense having community leagues or anything in between. I think it's possible to compete at an in-between level.

great thread
for some reason i thought or remembered the whole community "family" built around competition
that was pretty much the basis for AM right?
well that and no BS lol

It is built around realistic competition. Nobody in our clan has the time to be able to dedicated to high level semi professional competition, but even in more "relaxed" settings like a pub we always like to play competitively.

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